(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) A clip of former MSNBC star Joy Reid admitting she cheated to get into Harvard University went viral on Friday, drawing backlash from prominent conservative pundits.
Reid unabashedly declared that she had been a beneficiary of controversial “diversity, equity and inclusion” policies—implying that she was incapable of getting admitted on her own merit.
However, she maintained that it was nothing to feel ashamed or insulted about.
“As many times as I have been called DEI or an affirmative action baby and all that, you know what? I never get mad because I actually am very much in favor of DEI … And yeah, I am DEI,” Reid said.
“I bring in diversity, and that’s bringing something great,” she continued. “You’re not insulting me if you say, ‘Oh, you were an affirmative action person that got into Harvard.’ I’m like, yeah, I got into a Harvard with affirmative action and Yale, uh, and Brown, and also, you know, Vassar, you know, and the University of Denver.”
Due to weak ratings, Reid was fired from her MSNBC show in February and bid a tearful goodbye. But she has refused to fade away with dignity, instead ranting to an audience of more than 257,000 YouTube subscribers.
The undated clip, posted to the popular End Wokeness account on X, appeared to come from Reid’s new podcast.
In addition to a sweatshirt promoting her new show, Reid—who once appropriated President Donald Trump’s hairdo—dons an “FDT” cap, appropriating a conservative fashion statement that began with “FJB” apparel during the Biden presidency, as critics feared they would be censored for speaking out.
The viral clip of Reid embracing her DEI dependency was mocked by black conservatives, including rising star C.J. Pearson and popular podcasters the Hodge Twins.
“Yes, Joy, we are perfectly aware,” Pearson wrote, followed by a cry–laughing emoji.
Joyless Reid: "I am DEI… I got into Harvard with affirmative action, and Yale, and Brown."
Yes, Joy, we are perfectly aware. 🤣pic.twitter.com/ZxTyop62VF
— CJ Pearson (@thecjpearson) August 29, 2025
The Hodge Twins, Keith and Kevin, likewise posted to the clip to social media, providing the full text of Reid’s comments followed by four cry–laugh emojis.
Reid, who received her bachelor’s degree in visual and environmental studies from Harvard in 1991, has boasted previously about how her racial identity gave her an advantage over white and Asian students under the “affirmative action” policies at Harvard.
The Supreme Court banned the practice in 2023’s Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. However, many schools have continued to hide the practices by using euphemisms like “diversity,” resulting in threats of defunding and lawsuits and by the Trump administration.
Reid told fellow MSNBC host Chris Hayes in 2023 that the lack of belonging she sensed among her fellow students had initially hurt her feelings.
“It was one of the many reasons I was miserable there my freshman year—you felt completely out of place,” she said. “People kept telling me, ‘You shouldn’t be here.’”
Despite all odds, Reid rose to the ranks of MSNBC by making race-baiting her stock and trade, while often subverting conservative criticism by parroting her opponents’ rhetorical tactics to reach spurious conclusions.
Conservative thinker Victor Davis Hanson, a scholar at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, recently slammed Reid for having made the Left openly racist after she attacked white musicians like Elvis Presley.
“We’re getting very dangerous in this DEI movement as it starts to emit its death throes, as it’s challenged for being racist—which it is” Hanson said.
“It’s a racial essentialism; people who defend it double down, and they double down in a way that’s very injurious for the rest of the country,” he added. “So, Joy Reid is basically saying that black people are cognitively superior to other people.”
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
